“loverizing” your donors: the lucrative difference a few well-chosen words will make

Loverizing Your Donors with special guest Tom Ahern

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© 2014 Tom Ahern | www.AHERNCOMM.com

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Welcome!

7

© 2015 TOM AHERN

8

© 2015 TOM AHERN ARE YOU READY?

9

© 2015 TOM AHERN REALLY?

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© 2015 TOM AHERN Really REALLY?

WHICH ONE WON?

“LOVERIZING”

=

DONOR-CENTRICITY

You build $ucce$$ful

communication$ backward$

from your target audience.

13 Planning | © 2015 Tom Ahern | www.AHERNCOMM.com

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Gov’t grants Individuals Foundations

Meet criteria Win a fight Show promise

Specialists Generalists Specialists

Rational Emotional Aspirational

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This letter is about Bangladesh. This letter is about the donor.

To whom art thou

talking?

© 2015 Tom Ahern 16

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Source: Pareto 2015

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Yes, I donate....

Jane | Age 89 | Widowed

© Tom Ahern | © 1249-2015

Average donor age at Sharp?

© Tom Ahern | © 1249-2015 19

In the US, via direct mail:

“A young donor is 60.” Jeff Brooks

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4%

11%

17%

22%

46%

<35

35-44

45-54

55-64

65+

Donors by age (percentage)

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What are you

actually selling?


Fundraising has a

“valued customer.”

It’s the donor.


Your job is to

make this

particular

customer

uncommonly

happy. Photo source: Mark Phillips, Bluefrog

If you do, trust me …

you won’t regret it!

25 TOM AHERN © 2014

70+% of first-time donors in the

U.S. do NOT make a second gift.

They’re not

happy.

The world’s 2nd most profitable insight:

Donor communications are a

customer service experience.

Every touch point — from website to appeals to

newsletters to call centre — contributes BIG time.


For eyes over 60...

AIGA recommends 14 pt. for body copy.

27 © 2014 Tom Ahern | www.AHERNCOMM.com


Source: John Lepp, Agents of Good

AKA, The “Extraordinary

Experiences” Grid

The world’s MOST profitable insight:

Donor communications aren’t

really about your organization.

They’re really about the donor.


You’re not information vendors.

You’re emotion vendors.

You can sell that at a higher price … for longer … to more.

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I will only pay attention to what interests me.

And what interests me most

is me. Ask anyone.


Donor comms 101


Appeals, thanks, & newsletters work together.

You ask. You thank. You report.



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The virtuous circle...

Appeals, thanks, & newsletters work together.




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The part the charity

cares about

The part the donor

cares about

“Fundraising is

NOT about money.”

Tom Ahern | © 2013 35

Source: a line of UK fundraisers going back to the 1960s

Your thanks and your

newsletters are your HUG!

36 Donor Newsltr-Kivi-1 | © 2015 Tom Ahern | www.AHERNCOMM.com

The brain


The first gift you ask

for is my attention.


The average attention

span of an adult human in

2013 was 8 seconds.

We’re

#1!


You ask (and flatter).

You thank (and flatter).

You report (and flatter).

You cannot flatter too much.

39 © Tom Ahern | © 1249-2015

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Source: Neuromarketing blog

“Even when people perceive

that flattery is insincere, that

flattery can still leave a

lasting and positive

impression of the flatterer.”

© Tom Ahern | © 1249-2015

“Are you claiming the

credit or giving it to

your donors?”

Corporate communications are about how

great the organization is. Favorite pronoun:

we

“Yay, team?”

44

Donor communications are about how great

the donor is. Favorite pronoun:

you

Thanks to you and other generous donors like you,

we were able to turn...

Actually ON

the team

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“Humans are driven by a will to

establish meaning in their lives.

They need purpose.”

That’s your real job, in donor communications:

to bestow purpose in exchange for support.

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Source: Neurologist and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, via the For Impact blog

Donor-NEGLIGENT:

“We did this. We did

that. We were amazing.

Oh, by the way, thanks.”

“Is this

all I am

to you?”

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“Is this

all I am

to you?”

Tom Ahern | © 2013

This is “donor

fatigue.”

Donors: Why

they’re just not

that into you


ABOUT US

ABOUT US

ABOUT US

ABOUT US

ABOUT US ABOUT US

ABOUT US ABOUT US

ABOUT US

ABOUT US

ABOUT US

ABOUT US

ABOUT US ABOUT US ABOUT US

ABOUT US

ABOUT US

ABOUT US

ABOUT US

ABOUT US ABOUT US

ABOUT US ABOUT US

ABOUT US

ABOUT US

ABOUT US

ABOUT US

ABOUT US ABOUT US ABOUT US

ABOUT

THE

DONOR

A lot of charities could

be mistaken for

egotistical maniacs.

Donor-CENTRIC:

“With your help, all

these amazing things

happened. And without

your help, they won’t.”

Hello, I'm Ken Hackett, president of Catholic

Relief Services. Welcome to our 2009 interactive

annual report.

The generosity of you, our donors, is one of

Catholic Relief Services greatest blessings. Your

support gives us the resources we need to bring

innovative solutions to tough humanitarian

problems. Your compassion transforms lives.

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You’re in my home:

“Why are you here?”

Bad guest or good?

To make ME

feel good!!!

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Important!

Wanted!

Needed!

Proud of myself!

Happy!

Pleased!

Entertained! Surprised!

Your donors will never get tired

of hearing how great and how

needed they are.

© 2010-13 Tom AHERN | www.AHERNCOMM.com 63

“Donors are staggeringly

ignorant of the causes they

support.” --

Richard Radcliffe

DONORS MAY BE IGNORANT, but what they

DO have in abundance are their own

personal values, interests, beliefs,

connections, experiences, upbringing, lost

loves, secret passions, regrets, fears,

angers, hopes, and built-in empathy

[except for psychopaths]...

“We support a charity or a

soccer team or a perfume

because it gives us a chance to

love something about

ourselves.”

66

Source: Seth Godin

WILL

FIGHT FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE


WILL

FIGHT FOR THE HUNGRY


WILL

FIGHT FOR CUTE THINGS IN DISTRESS


Welcome to

a family

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“Synthetic family”

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Source: Russell James III, 2014

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Editor: Sally Kirby Hartman

The story’s about the donor

...every time someone donates to a good cause, they're buying a

story, a story that's worth more than the amount they donated.

It might be the story of doing the right thing, or fitting in, or

pleasing a friend or honoring a memory, but the story has value.

For many, it's the story of what it means to be part of a

community.

Source: Seth Godin


So… what story are you

telling me about me?

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Communications are a

mirror held up to donors.

They see themselves in

what you say.

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76

KIND

CARING

COMPASSIONATE

HELPFUL

FRIENDLY

FAIR

HARD-WORKING

GENEROUS

HONEST

Source: psychologist Jen Shang, quoted in the NY Times 2012

From you....

They want to feel good.

They want to feel loved.

They want to feel smart.

They want to feel needed.

They want to feel important.

They want to belong.

They want to see their values in

action.

They want to win!

vision

enemy

hero

served Source: Stephen Pidgeon and Tangible

78

“Me?”

79

donors make sad

happy

hero defeats enemy

80

Give the donor an

important job to do.

81

82

“What is our gift

of joy?”

83

The gift of joy

84

The gift of joy

85

Editor: Michelle Brinson

The gift of joy

Does it all work?


WHICH ONE WON?

How great the ORGANIZATION is = $4,470 in gifts

CORPORATE communications

DONOR communications

How great the ORGANIZATION is = $4,470 in gifts

How great the DONOR is = $49,600 in gifts

1,000%

IMPROVEMENT!!!

90

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free

how-to

e-newsletter…

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© 2014 Tom Ahern | www.AHERNCOMM.com

I subscribe!

Ashley said I had

to.

“loverizing” your donors: the lucrative difference a few well-chosen words will make

Government & Nonprofit